In the spirit of musical invention and creativity Welsh psychedelic overlords The Keys have let Super Furry Animals’ electro maestro Cian Ciaran loose on their track I Tried To Find It In Books. Previously a snake-hipped tub-thumper, Cian has taken the song for a quick lap of the solar system and transformed into something altogether more interplanetary. The Furries’ synth boffin, who recently released his magnificent debut album Outside In, has created a track that appears to be the aural equivalent of a meteor entering the earth’s atmosphere.

Here The Keys’ frontman Matthew Evans talks about the Cian collaboration, the band’s new album, sexy ads and the silver screen…

How did the collaboration with Cian come about?
Cian had mentioned to me that he wanted to do a remix for us, so I called him when the time was right.

Did you give Cian carte blanche to do what he liked with the track?
Absolutely!

What was he aiming for?
You’d have to ask him. I let him do what he wanted. I like how he’s displaced the rhythms. Musically the original is quite a primitive tune; The Keys are quite primitive musicians. As far as I can comment on these things, Cian has added some sophistication and electro funk.

How far do you and Cian go back?
Back in the day the Furries were in a different league to us so we didn’t see that much of each other. I got to know them better through El Goodo who supported them on the Love Kraft tour. I think myself and Cian hit it off when he was DJing in Manchester. He was playing his unique brand of electronic music and I kept pestering him to play some Eddie Cochran. Which he rightly ignored but understood I was coming from an honest place.

Did Murry The Hump (Matth’s former band) and SFA’s paths cross a lot back in the day?
Not much. We got couched into that whole Welsh psych thing but they were always beyond such lazy journo categorisation to my mind.

What’s your favourite SFA track?
I think its got to be something off of Love Kraft. Probably Frequency. It’s a lesser known track but I think it encapsulates much of what I love about the Furries: Haunting Melodies, Polar Bears, and witty lyrics. Live though, it has to be Slow Life.

Cian Ciaran

Your launch gig for the single at Clwb last week was quite the night?
For us it was one of the best gigs we’ve ever done. It was a deeply moving experience and the aftershocks are still being felt by us and members of the audience who have messaged me to say they’re still hyped from it. I love playing Clwb – it’s where I learned my craft. So to play upstairs is like coming home. We feel VERY comfortable on that stage.

You had The Coral DJing, how do you know those guys?
Gwion roadied for them years ago and was in correspondence with them for a while until his phone got stolen. It was earlier this year we were playing in The Lexington in London and by coincidence Nick from The Coral (Keyboards) was there to give moral support to his brother’s band who were supporting us. I’d never met him before but it was like seeing a long lost friend. We just started talking music and found so much in common: Love Gorky’s, hate Libertines etc…

Any Keys/Coral collaborations on the horizon?
Nick has offered to play on the album so yeah I’ll be sending him a track over Xmas for him to put some Farfisa on.

How’s your new album coming on and what can we expect?
It’s recorded! We recorded it in two days at Resolven with the help of Pixy from El Goodo. Dave Dax did the drums; He’s become a fully-fledged Key now. And that was his baptism of fire. I think it’s the best thing we’ve done by a country mile. We’ve gone all out infectious tunes. It’s a very UP album. There’s plenty of juice left in The Keys can. It’s a lot of fun. And the opener called Shake it Up was done in one take. Dave played a blinder – we got to the end, gave it a listen and said ‘We can’t top that!’ Thank God Pixy got that first one down. Can’t wait for everyone to hear it!

Everyone Loves You soundtracking the Autumn/Winter TV campaign for Aussie fashion brand MissGuided – two questions – how and how much?!
Aimee (our manager) was in talks with them. She asked us how we’d feel about adverts and we said it depends on the product. No prob with MissGuided. I think they did a great job. It’s one of the sexiest things I’ve seen. No qualms!
How much? Enough to have a nice Xmas!

There’s big news to come soon I hear involving one of them big motion pictures – what can you tell us or at least hint at?
It’s a film about the rock ‘n’ roll scene. Right up our street!